Thursday, October 06, 2005
Yvan Eht Nioj
A very very good Simpsons episode.
Rain muffles. It hides. Not unlike snow. Snow muffles. The few times these eyes and ears have been around snow, it's so peaceful. There are no sounds, just the crunch of the snow under your boots and calm. Rain is similar but ultimately different. With rain there is no calm. It's a constant cacophony of sound. It doesn't make everything quiet but it drowns out all environmental noise. Like white noise which I suppose is why it's so peaceful to fall asleep in the rain.
One of my dream houses is a place on the beach, up on stilts, in Thailand or the Caribbean. Very simple house, huge windows open to the world so that you are still outside. Then the rain comes, you curl up with a good book or your favorite Joan, and just listen and enjoy. Good times.
My seminar topic has been decided upon. Solid State Lighting. Basically what are LEDs (light emitting diodes), how they're made, how they produce light, why are they so efficient, maybe ways to make them better, and thanks to Ryan of Ryan and Emily, it will probably also include how they're being used to help the poor of the world.
Emily was my first lab partner ever back in high school in the DR. She is very cool and we have kept in touch, albeit sporadically, over the years. But she and her man are currently in Thailand, she is working on housing microfinance. "Microfinance is an interesting approach to poverty reduction." I don't really know what that is, but I'm sure Emily does. She's also taking 2 Masters classes. So she's busy. And Ryan is working on a few projects and one is bringing solid state lighting to the masses as an energy efficient, basically free light source. If you know anything about LEDs, they burn for much longer than traditional incandescent lights and require a fraction of the energy. So much that all that is reallly needed for these light systems are a few solar panels, a few wires, maybe a battery or two, and a bunch of LEDs. Which is a wonderful idea when the alternative is kerosene lamps which produce toxic carbon monoxide, electricity which is not readily availabe and expensive, or no light at all.
He provided a link to Light Up the World, which is dedicated to bringing light to remote parts of the world. I'll be adding that to my sidebar, which needs to be cleaned up anyway.
And now to answer the tagging by E-Lo.
o now I pass the tag along to you...
The rules are:
1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five other people to do the same.
I'm going camping this weekend.
That was pretty lame. And as penance for my lameness, I tag no one.
Rain muffles. It hides. Not unlike snow. Snow muffles. The few times these eyes and ears have been around snow, it's so peaceful. There are no sounds, just the crunch of the snow under your boots and calm. Rain is similar but ultimately different. With rain there is no calm. It's a constant cacophony of sound. It doesn't make everything quiet but it drowns out all environmental noise. Like white noise which I suppose is why it's so peaceful to fall asleep in the rain.
One of my dream houses is a place on the beach, up on stilts, in Thailand or the Caribbean. Very simple house, huge windows open to the world so that you are still outside. Then the rain comes, you curl up with a good book or your favorite Joan, and just listen and enjoy. Good times.
My seminar topic has been decided upon. Solid State Lighting. Basically what are LEDs (light emitting diodes), how they're made, how they produce light, why are they so efficient, maybe ways to make them better, and thanks to Ryan of Ryan and Emily, it will probably also include how they're being used to help the poor of the world.
Emily was my first lab partner ever back in high school in the DR. She is very cool and we have kept in touch, albeit sporadically, over the years. But she and her man are currently in Thailand, she is working on housing microfinance. "Microfinance is an interesting approach to poverty reduction." I don't really know what that is, but I'm sure Emily does. She's also taking 2 Masters classes. So she's busy. And Ryan is working on a few projects and one is bringing solid state lighting to the masses as an energy efficient, basically free light source. If you know anything about LEDs, they burn for much longer than traditional incandescent lights and require a fraction of the energy. So much that all that is reallly needed for these light systems are a few solar panels, a few wires, maybe a battery or two, and a bunch of LEDs. Which is a wonderful idea when the alternative is kerosene lamps which produce toxic carbon monoxide, electricity which is not readily availabe and expensive, or no light at all.
He provided a link to Light Up the World, which is dedicated to bringing light to remote parts of the world. I'll be adding that to my sidebar, which needs to be cleaned up anyway.
And now to answer the tagging by E-Lo.
o now I pass the tag along to you...
The rules are:
1. Go into your archive.
2. Find your 23rd post.
3. Find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. Post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. Tag five other people to do the same.
I'm going camping this weekend.
That was pretty lame. And as penance for my lameness, I tag no one.
# posted by Seth @ 6:58 AM 
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